One Breath
by lrigD
Summary: TV Prompt Challenge - It only took one. Pretty dark - character death!


**_Wow, I'm actually starting to enjoy these prompt thingies. Never knew they'd be something for me :)_**

**_Anyway, prompt for this one was _X-Files - One breath_, and I gotta warn you it's pretty dark. _**

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It was a single shot. Nobody saw or heard it coming, because the shooter stood behind a building and had been careful not to show himself. One single bullet, one tiny second.

But it was enough.

She saw him going down from the corner of her eye, but she had to keep her eyes on the unsub in front of her. Her eyes were drawn to the figure going down, but she knew she couldn't lose concentration.

So she didn't look. Kept her eyes focused on the man dressed in dark clothes who was currently trying to escape.

She saw Derek stopping him and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, she turned around quickly. Nobody else had been at her side of the place; it _had_ to be him. And nobody knew.

"Officer down," she said into the microphone attached to her wrist. Her own voice sounded weak in her ears. Running to the fallen figure, she did something she hadn't done in a long time: she prayed to whatever god was listening, _Please don't let him be heard, please, he must be okay, I cannot lose him..._

If it had been any other moment, she would have stopped to think about just what she was thinking. What the voices inside her head implied. But now, it wasn't important.

She kneeled beside him, searching his eyes while at the same time trying to locate the gun shot wound. She found it quickly, with trained eyes: and the same training told her it was futile to help. There was only one way this was going to end.

She heard Derek taking down the unsub; in a corner of her mind, she wondered about the shooter. What would happen to him?

But then his eyes found hers and everything was forgotten as she saw the pain he was so bravely trying to hide.

"Emily..." his voice was quite clear; not like she'd expected. _It wasn't supposed to happen like this_...

"Ssh, Hotch, don't talk," she told him, instinct taking over even if she knew nothing was going to help anymore.

"Emily, I..." his face contorted in pain and she wished more than ever she could take it away from him. She'd do it, if only he could live... If only...

Everything flashed by, every moment they'd shared: she was quite sure it wasn't supposed to be happening like this, _he_ should be the one seeing his life: and yet, she saw the moments flash by, each one making the pain more acute. She grasped his hand, trying to give him some of his strength; she felt the energy slowly leaving his body, but she wasn't ready yet.

"Don't go, Aaron," she whispered, not holding back the tears. "Don't leave me..."

"I will... never leave... you," he said between gasps, and somehow Emily knew what he was referring to. "I will always be... there... for you."

And when his hand went slack, she knew there was only one moment left: one moment to share with him, one moment that would flash by if she herself died. One moment to share with the one person she couldn't let go.

"Don't go..." she begged, knowing it was useless, but still she had to keep trying. "Aaron..." She was unaware of the people around her gathering, looking at her with pity and shock; unaware of the EMTs arriving. She was looking into those brown eyes she knew and loved, and she knew what he was telling: _live on. Don't die with me._

But it was so hard... she couldn't let go, not this sudden, not this unexpectedly. It wasn't supposed to happen like this... not to her, not to them.

He took a deep breath, and too late she realized it was his last one. And then he was gone; she saw the life leave his eyes, felt the life leaving his hand and somehow just _knew_ he was gone.

She sat there for a long time, looking at the body in front of her, the body she knew so well. It was just a body now; a shell for what once had been.

Someone dragged her away gently, arms in her armpits; she didn't fight, but kept looking until figured in dark blue suits blocked her view.

Then reality set in, and she shouted, thrashed and moaned in the arms of the man who was holding her, trying to get back to him, to _die_ with him, to get rid of this horrible pain.

But he wouldn't let go, and when at some point her shouts turned into sobs of desperation, he held her.

And she knew he hadn't lied; he would always be there.

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**_Unbeta'ed; typed it in pretty much one time. Also, it's almost 1 a.m. here, so please take that into consideration :)_**


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